Fewell, Giants look to slow down Cam and Co.

Thursday

Sep 20, 2012 at 12:01 AMSep 20, 2012 at 12:42 PM

Gabe Whisnant

One of the qualities that has made Perry Fewell a successful NFL defensive coordinator is his ability to make adjustments. Most recently and notably, an apparent halftime change during last year’s Super Bowl win over New England bolstered the Giants’ pass coverage. New York held the high-scoring Patriots to just seven points in the second half en route to a 21-17 win in Indianapolis. Through two games, the pressing issue with Fewell’s defense seems to be their inability to generate a pass rush. Specifically, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Jason Pierre-Paul have been held to just one combined sack. The Giants are 1-1 with a lot of season left, but they’re 19th in total defense. Fewell, a Cramerton native and South Point graduate, knows that has to improve. “Quarterbacks are really getting the ball out fast, quick three-step or quick five-step,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “They haven’t allowed us to rush them like we did in the past. We have to change our approach a little based on what the team’s doing. We’ll make adjustments based on what the offense is giving us right now.” Enter Cam Newton and the Panthers in tonight’s primetime game. Carolina’s offense struggled during most of the Week 1 loss at Tampa Bay, but recovered, and looked closer to last year’s form in its win over New Orleans on Sunday. Newton passed for 253 yards and a touchdown — with no interceptions — and ran for another 71 yards and a score. Against New Orleans, the Panthers finished with 463 total yards as DeAngelo Williams (14 rushes, 69 yards, touchdown) and Jonathan Stewart (11 rushes, 51 yards) added to the total. Fewell, in his 15th year as an NFL coach, has been impressed with Newton’s progression. “We pressured him a lot in that first preseason game, and he seemed to handle it, and he seemed like if he missed the pass, he knew what his read was, he knew where to go with the football, he just missed the throw,” Fewell said. “He was determined that he was going to make it right. I felt like this guy has a lot of poise. Just with some experience and time, he’s going to be a really nice player. “I think offensively they’re doing some really good things to enhance his athletic ability. I think the sky is the limit for this guy.” Knowing they had a short week coming early in the season, Fewell and the Giants started their preparation for tonight’s game during the preseason. “We took a week and looked at them, tried to put together some thoughts, preparation, plans, about how to defend this football team,” he said. “Knowing it would be a short week, we looked at them at camp.” The Giants return to primetime on Sept. 30 when they visit NFC East rival Philadelphia. Fewell believes all facets of the defense must know their assignments as they face Newton and Eagles quarterback Michael Vick in back-to-back weeks. “When we face a guy like Cam and a guy like Michael, you have to have 11 guys, not just the linebackers alone, but I do like our linebackers and the speed of our backers and the way that they can run and be able to defend these guys,” he said. “You have to have all 11 guys looking at these guys and really know where these guys are, because they can bust out at any point in time.”